"rtl-sdr-scanner" Software

[KC1UA]

Came across this software initially whilst perusing YouTube and thought I'd give it a whirl. I used VMWare Workstation 17 Player and set up the newest Ubuntu Linux and followed the instructions on the GitHub page and the aforementioned video, which was released three days ago at the time of my post.

YouTube:

GitHub: GitHub - shajen/rtl-sdr-scanner-cpp

It has a pretty cool web interface for playback of recorded audio. Simply put it uses an RTL dongle (or HackRF) and can record from a frequency range of a few MHz (rtl) to several (HackRF). It has no digital mode capability, and definitely needs some enhancements. Primarily it needs to be able to handle the step sizes that are used for various different parts of the spectrum. Or it could be that I need to learn how to make that work. It somewhat reminds me of various setups that use dongles to share transmissions with Broadcastify Calls or OpenMHz as it can capture all of the traffic within the range it is looking at. It is relatively easy to set up; my biggest issue was having it fail when it ran because I didn't have correct step sizes for the sample rate of the dongle.

I think it needs a lot of work before it can truly be beneficial. As an example it currently doesn't support AM mode! I can see this really being nifty for recording a chunk of the VHF civilian air band if it does.

Anyway, didn't see it on RR in a search so thought I'd share the info. Have fun!

 

[PDXh0b0]

Been avoiding this docker stuff, but cmake build won't pull up web interface, so docker install it is

 

[mikenet]

Not voting for one over the other, but if you‘re not aware of RTLSDR-Airband, might be another option to play with. It does AM as well as FM (despite the name), but uses a pre-programmed channel/frequency model, unlike the super cool blind search model demo’ed above. Still is massively-multichannel though!

 

[PDXh0b0]

Came across this software initially whilst perusing YouTube and thought I'd give it a whirl. I used VMWare Workstation 17 Player and set up the newest Ubuntu Linux and followed the instructions on the GitHub page and the aforementioned video, which was released three days ago at the time of my post.

YouTube:

GitHub: GitHub - shajen/rtl-sdr-scanner-cpp

It has a pretty cool web interface for playback of recorded audio. Simply put it uses an RTL dongle (or HackRF) and can record from a frequency range of a few MHz (rtl) to several (HackRF). It has no digital mode capability, and definitely needs some enhancements. Primarily it needs to be able to handle the step sizes that are used for various different parts of the spectrum. Or it could be that I need to learn how to make that work. It somewhat reminds me of various setups that use dongles to share transmissions with Broadcastify Calls or OpenMHz as it can capture all of the traffic within the range it is looking at. It is relatively easy to set up; my biggest issue was having it fail when it ran because I didn't have correct step sizes for the sample rate of the dongle.

I think it needs a lot of work before it can truly be beneficial. As an example it currently doesn't support AM mode! I can see this really being nifty for recording a chunk of the VHF civilian air band if it does.

Anyway, didn't see it on RR in a search so thought I'd share the info. Have fun!

So fail & fail, tried different way, so fresh ubuntu install, rtl-sdr up and working, this docker stuff, did you install docker desktop or docker engine & docker compose( it's really not straight forward on the page)

 

[KC1UA]

To be honest I didn't even know Docker existed prior to trying this, so I did my best to follow the instructions at this app's page. I did wind up going to the Docker site but ultimately I did the install for both from here:

GitHub - shajen/rtl-sdr-scanner-cpp

Contribute to shajen/rtl-sdr-scanner-cpp development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I agree that the instructions aren't totally clear, but somehow I fudged my way through it.

 

[PDXh0b0]

To be honest I didn't even know Docker existed prior to trying this, so I did my best to follow the instructions at this app's page. I did wind up going to the Docker site but ultimately I did the install for both from here:

GitHub - shajen/rtl-sdr-scanner-cpp

Contribute to shajen/rtl-sdr-scanner-cpp development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I agree that the instructions aren't totally clear, but somehow I fudged my way through it.

Got it running, biggest issue, icecast server running in the background, uses the same port. Killed it and was able open the browser panels. Tried changing the port settings for rtl-sdr-scannerpp in docker-compose.yml but no luck, so I just changed the configuration for icecast & rtl_airband.

Now to figure out how to fine tune, a majority of the captured calls are 5-20 khz off

 

[KC1UA]

Now to figure out how to fine tune, a majority of the captured calls are 5-20 khz off

This is my #1 issue with it as well and hopefully it can be something that gets figured out over time. It's the step sizes not fitting into the sample rate of the RTL dongle. I don't understand this shortcoming but then again I am not the least bit of a programmer.

Glad you were able to get it running.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Got some rfi across 152ish - 158ish, nothing to do with the program, different radios, different locations, heard on the Columbia County, OR broadcastify feed, and ditto'd on fb groups, wasn't going to run the scanner but thought what the heck lol. Glad I did, found some new traffic, just have to find the correct frequency (but not listed <that I could find> on RR or fcc) even heard coastguard for the first time in a long time(calling stations to switch from 16 to 22, something about their phone being down < wonder if it's their malfunctioning equipment affecting the band> )

So it is proving itself a useful tool to scan vhf and discover frequencies, getting a ballpark of the actual frequency and a time stamp. Now to listen to the recordings and find freqs to block with the json. I tried adding more sdrs, but I'm must be getting the edits wrong, it won't run.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Little cleaner & running two sdr's

Scannerppp config.json - JustPaste.it

jpst.it

 

[KC1UA]

Nice! There is an app update but from the looks of your .json file you're running it. Not sure the FFT replacing the step size works as I'd like to see but I inquired and the software writer replied. Getting real step sizes would get this over the hump for me, it's really a potentially great tool. I'm repeating myself at this point I suppose.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Wish I had a better understanding of the step = sample_rate / fft formula.

So the ftt of a sample rate of 1.92Mhz would be 3840? For a 12.5 step?

 

[sheilaaliens]

Sweet gonna see if it works to scan fast like a ghost box for ghost hunting woohoo

 

[PDXh0b0]

Commits on Feb 14, 2023
Added AM modulation.

shajen committed 3 hours ago